Farming is
the primary occupation of Kurukhs, through in modern days they have entered
into commercial business and white colored jobs. They grow paddy, marwa, begetables and other
crops. Men plough the land and women take part in other types of work. Women
workd harder than men. They sell fiesh and vegetables or fruits.

Landless Kurukh men and women work as coolie-rega(land labourers). In Jalpaiguri and
the Darjeeling Terai whither they have migrated to work in the tea-gardens.
Some Kurukhs living in Andaman & Nicober Island and West Bengal. They are
involved as fisherman.

Farming is
the primary occupation of Kurukhs, through in modern days they have entered
into commercial business and white colored jobs. They grow paddy, marwa, begetables and other
crops. Men plough the land and women take part in other types of work. Women
workd harder than men. They sell fiesh and vegetables or fruits. Landless
Kurukh men and women work as coolie-rega(land labourers). In Jalpaiguri and
the Darjeeling Terai whither they have migrated to work in the tea-gardens.
Some Kurukhs living in Andaman & Nicober Island and West Bengal. They are
involved as fisherman.

A number of
educated Kurukhs are working in Government/Private job in our country as
well as abroad foreign countries. Since two decades, a lot of women and
workers have been settled in metropolitan and other cities like Delhi,
Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Patna, Lukhnow, Bhopal, Hydrabad and
Bhubneswa; where women works as house-maid and men work as a worker.

In
crisis or draught condition, many people tried to survive by changing their
occupation. Some people depends upon selling non-timber forest produce and
firewood in nearby village. Some people or landless Kurukhs join wage
labouring for the first time in a compulsive situation. They do not know
skilled work due to illiteracy. A very few people engage them in vegetable
cultivation and selling.

Recent days, due to regular draught, lack of job opportunity and bad
economic condition of the family, some people are leaving their native land
and migrated to distant metropolitan city and other places to work in
different kind of labour work. Some middlemen or agents are involved in
this affair. They give the hope to provide them work in that places, but
actually it seems that they treated worse in physically and mentally. Girls,
who engaged in maid-servant are exploited sexually.

1.2. Food

Boiled rice
is the staple food of Oroans.
It is generally taken along with pulses or vegetables, fruits, fish
and meat.
Generally two principal meals are taken, one at midday and the other at
night and in addition they often take a breakfast in the morning. Freshly
cooked rice is also taken as breakfast. Theyeat the meat of goat,
pig, fowl, some wild animalsand birds etc.They
drink a homemade wine called haria, which is
generally made from rice. Mahua, another indigenous variety of homemade wine
between Kurukhs, but is
rare in the Kurukhs habitats.

1.3. House

Kurukhs are
making their houses with the mud wall and flat roof of a dry plates called
khapra made of mud. Before establishment of dry plates to the roof, they
made proper base through wood, bamboo, sticks and dry hay. Walls are painted
by colours and pictorial signs are drowned, generally Kurukh people prefer
black colours for painting wall. Black colour is better than other colours,
because its colour are stable more time. Highly areas (Pindas) are made
beside surrounding wall to protect from rain water. Rich people surround
their houses of brick or stone with a walled enclosure and ensure privacy by
the greatest economy in windows. Almost everywhere the tendency is apparent
towards the replacement of traditional roofing materials by corrugated iron
sheeting and angles.

1.3.
Garments

Kurukh men
and women wear simple dresses. Women wear blouse,Tracked
sari consists of one cloth, six yards long, gracefully adjusted so as to
form a shawl and a petticoat. The upper end is thrown over the left shoulder
and falls with its fringe and ornamented border prettily over the back of
the figure. Kurukh women like to wear ornaments
and use metal or wooden ornaments. They use flowers in
their make-up. A recognised social custom is to have tattoos on the body of
both men and women. Vast quantities of red beads and a large, heavy brass
ornament shaped like a torque are worn round the neck. On the left
hand are rings of copper, as many as can be induced on each finger up to the
first joint, on the right hand a smaller quantity; rings on the second toe
only of brass or bell-metal, and anklets and bracelets of the same material
are also worn." The women wear only metal and not glass bangles, and this
with the three vertical tattoo-marks on the forehead and the fact that the
head and right arm are uncovered enables them to be easily recognised. "The
hair is made tolerably smooth amenable by much lubrication, and false hair
or some other substance is used to give size to the mass into which it is
gathered not immediately behind, but more or less on one side, so that it
lies on the neck just behind and touching the right ear; and flowers are
arranged in a receptacle made for them between the roll of hair and thehead."
Rings are worn in the lobes of the ear, but not other ornaments. "When in
dancing costume on grand occasions they add to their head-dress plumes of
heron feathers, and a gay bordered scarf is tightly bound round the upper
part of the body."

Men
wear the dhuti, ganji (underwear) and the lungi.
Poor men wear the gamchha or tolong called bhagwa and poor women do
not use blouse to cover upper part of the body, sari is sufficient for it.
The better off and educated Kurukhs wear shirts,
trousers and Coat etc.

Some Kurukhs

keep their hair long like a woman, gathered in a
knot behind, supporting, when he is in gala costume, red instruments useful
and ornamental, with numerous ornaments of brass. At the very extremity of
the roll of hair gleams a small circular mirror set in brass, from which,
and also from his ears, bright brass chains with spiky pendants dangle, and
as he moves with the springy elastic step of youth and tosses his head like
a high-mettled steed inthe buoyancy of his animal spirits, he sets all his
glittering ornaments in motion and displays as he laughs a row of teeth,
round, white and regular, that give light and animation to his dusky
features. He wears nothing in the form of a coat; his decorated neck and
chest are undraped, displaying how the latter tapers to the waist, which the
young dandies compress within the smallest compass. In addition to the
cloth, there is always round the waist a girdle of cords made of tasar-silk
or of cane. This is now a superfluity, but it is no doubt the remnant of a
more primitive costume, perhaps the support of the antique fig-leaves."Out
of the age of ornamentation nothing can be more untidy or more
unprepossessing than the appearance of the Oraon. The ornaments are nearly
all discarded, hair utterly neglected, and for raiment any rags are used.
This applies both to males and females of middle age.

1.4.
Ornaments

The Kurukh tribes like to wear
metallic and wooden made ornaments, i.e. ornaments made of Gold, Silver,
brass, copper for their earrings, bracelets, bangles and ornaments made of
wooden for their earnings, called bindyo. They use silver made ornament for
neck, which is called hansli. They use flowers in their
make-up. A recognised social custom is to have tattoos on the body of both
men and women. Vast quantities of red beads and a large, heavy brass
ornament shaped like a torque are worn round the neck. On the left
hand are rings of copper, as many as can be induced on each finger up to the
first joint, on the right hand a smaller quantity; rings on the second toe
only of brass or bell-metal, and anklets and bracelets of the same material
are also worn." The women wear only metal and not glass bangles, and this
with the three vertical tattoo-marks on the forehead and the fact that the
head and right arm are uncovered enables them to be easily recognised. "The
hair is made tolerably smooth amenable by much lubrication, and false hair
or some other substance is used to give size to the mass into which it is
gathered not immediately behind, but more or less on one side, so that it
lies on the neck just behind and touching the right ear; and flowers are
arranged in a receptacle made for them between the roll of hair and thehead." Rings are worn in the lobes of the ear, but not
other ornaments. "When in dancing costume on grand occasions they add to
their head-dress plumes of heron feathers, and a gay bordered scarf is
tightly bound round the upper part of the body."

At the very extremity of the roll of hair gleams a small
circular mirror set in brass, from which, and also from his ears, bright
brass chains with spiky pendants dangle, and as he moves with the springy
elastic step of youth and tosses his head like a high-mettled steed inthe buoyancy of his animal spirits, he sets all his
glittering ornaments in motion and displays as he laughs a row of teeth,
round, white and regular, that give light and animation to his dusky
features.The ornaments are nearly all discarded,
hair utterly neglected, and for raiment any rags are used.

Kurukh women use ornaments a lots but the spiritual concept of ornament is
very different. They believe that all ornaments are human made and are
mortal. Therefore they invented tattoos as permanent ornament. Majority of
Kurukh woman have tattoos called Godna, on their bodies.
They have three parallel vertical lines on the forehead which form a
distinctive mark, and other patterns on the arms, chest, knees and ankles.
However, Kurukh man also use Godna. They make five deep
marks on the lower part of his arm. They belive
that he may be recognised as an Oraonathis death when he goes into
the other world." The marks on the knees are considered to be steps by
which the wearer will ascend to heaven after her death. If a baby cries much
it is also tattooed on the nose and chin.